063 - Project Endure: Why You Should Push Your Own Limits with Joe Rinaldi

In this episode, Joe Rinaldi shares his journey from being a physical therapist to founding Project Endure, a coaching business aimed at helping others find strength in their struggles. He discusses his passion for sports and fitness, the challenges of entrepreneurship, and how endurance activities have shaped his personal growth and spiritual connection. Joe emphasizes the importance of overcoming struggles and finding strength through fitness, while also reflecting on the beauty of nature and its lessons for life. In this conversation, Joe Rinaldi shares his journey of faith, personal struggles, and the importance of persistence in overcoming life's challenges. He discusses how relationships can lead us back to faith, the lessons learned during difficult times, and the significance of embracing the journey of life, even when it feels overwhelming. Joe emphasizes the value of community, support, and the need to keep showing up, no matter the circumstances.

Connect with Joe: 

Instagram : @joearinaldi

@project.endure

Project Endure Podcast

The Balance of Gray
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The Signpost Inn Podcast
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Chapters

• 10:26 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 11:16 (Cont.) 063 - Project Endure: Why You Should Push Your Own Limits with Joe Rinaldi
• 34:26 [Ad] The Signpost Inn Podcast
• 35:12 (Cont.) 063 - Project Endure: Why You Should Push Your Own Limits with Joe Rinaldi

Transcript

McKenzie Smith (00:02)
On today's episode of My Valley, His Victory, we have Joe Rinaldi. He founded Project Endure in 2021 after leaving his full-time job as a physical therapist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When he was 10 years old, Joe was diagnosed with best disease, a condition that causes progressive sight loss. The prospect of going blind was once a burden, but has become a blessing. What he's lost in sight, he gained in vision.

Joe has a deep desire to help others find strength in their struggle and has channeled that there. While building Project Endure, Joe continues to write, speak, and coach while putting faith first and striving to be the best husband to his wife, Makayla. Throughout his formal education, athletic career, and life experience, Joe has developed a hunger for growth and a love for people which both support Project Endure. Thanks so much for being with us today, Joe.

Joe Rinaldi (00:54)
Kenzie, thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited for our conversation.

McKenzie Smith (00:59)
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you being willing to jump on here and chat with us today. I would love to just hear a little bit more about yourself and who you are.

Joe Rinaldi (01:09)
Sure. So I grew up in the great state of New Jersey. I think it sometimes gets a bad reputation from people who don't live there, but I had a great experience. had an awesome childhood. have a mom and a dad. I am the oldest of three. So I have a younger brother and younger sister. I grew up playing sports. So a lot of baseball, a lot of football, great childhood friends and all that good stuff.

Like you mentioned, I have a condition that affects my sight. And so that was also part of my childhood. And I spent quite a bit of time navigating that. From there, I went on to study exercise science in college and then got my doctorate degree in physical therapy here in Philadelphia, which is where I now live with my wife, Michaela, and our dog, Theo.

McKenzie Smith (02:02)
I love it. A wife and a dog. That's the season of life I'm into. A husband and two dogs.

Joe Rinaldi (02:09)
Well, you know, it's funny is what we moved into our house two and a half years ago. And, you know, I was getting to know the neighbors and there's this one older gentleman who has lived on the block for the past 50 years. And I asked him one day how things have changed. And he said, dogs are the new babies. Which is true.

McKenzie Smith (02:25)
haha

That's funny. So...

Sorry, my mind totally just spaced where I was going. So you said kind of the fitness piece of this, it sounds like has always been a passion for you. You grew up playing sports. You went to school for physical therapy. Kind of where did that stem from? Was that from your parents? Is that something you just caught onto as a kid? Like what's been kind of the passion behind this physical aspect of everything that you've done?

Joe Rinaldi (02:35)
Alright, you're good.

That's a good question. I grew up falling in love with the sport of baseball because my dad had played baseball his whole life and it was a way for us to bond. He coached a lot of my teams as a kid. And so that was my intro to sports and formal athletics. And from there I started playing football because it was also a sport that he had played. And through those sports I really started gaining confidence and I made a lot of friends.

And I think just that web of my friendships being tied to sports really drew me in more and more. And before I knew it, you know, as a child and teenager, sports were a big part of how I saw myself. and I couldn't imagine my life without them. And so I loved just the physical nature of those things, the competitive nature, the teamwork. and it wasn't until a little bit into college that I ended up stopping formal sport.

which was just a weird part of my life because this thing that was such a big part of who I thought I was was now gone and it left a space to be filled, which I'm sure we'll talk about a little bit later on.

McKenzie Smith (04:06)
Yeah, I totally can relate to that. I played college sports and kind of the outdoors for me is what has filled that piece of it in my life. And so I totally can understand and relate with you on that one and having a weird season of like, what do you do here with this thing you've kind of always done? what does, you you played sports in college and in high school.

what is fitness and in that piece of it look like to you now?

Joe Rinaldi (04:38)
Yeah. And so like a lot of people, think, fitness initially back in, for me, it was middle school, but, back then was a way for me to, process things that I was feeling. It was a way for me to gain more confidence and, know, maybe also look a certain kind of way, in case I were to get a girlfriend someday. And so that's where it all started for me. But through the years,

Fitness really became this place for me where I could just be with myself, where I could learn about my limits, where I could push up against that part of me that wanted to quit things, that wanted to stop things, that wanted to choose comfort, and then still choose to keep going. And that part of fitness has been huge in my life because it's taught me so much about my mind.

Even though the benefits are also applicable to the body, think fitness for me has been such a mental benefit over the years.

McKenzie Smith (05:38)
Yeah, I love that. It's, yes, sure about the physical, but the things that it does for you mentally is just...

And I think I challenge people in that space all the time. It's like, if you're struggling in your mental space, like go to the gym and do something because chances are you'll start to see that you can overcome things that you thought were impossible. And I think that helps like build mental strength to be able to continue forward and teach yourself that you can do the hard things and.

Joe Rinaldi (06:08)
Yes.

McKenzie Smith (06:09)
and that sort of thing. share with us a little bit about Project Endure and that company that you founded and kind of just what it does, how it serves your customers.

Joe Rinaldi (06:21)
So a bit of background, I mentioned that I went to graduate school for physical therapy. And when I graduated in the spring of 2019, I got a job at an outpatient clinic here in Philadelphia. And I really enjoyed that first job out of school. It was in a great part of the city where the patients and the community were just full of, was, it was just full of kind, genuine people. And I loved working with them. And at the same time,

I began to notice as time went on that I didn't love working in an insurance-based outpatient model. The healthcare system has its flaws and I found myself being pulled in many different directions throughout the day when I just wanted to be present with the person in front of me. There was this moment, I'll share the story quickly, where it was the last patient of the day. She came in for an evaluation.

She sat down, she had neck pain. And I always started the evaluation by asking people, you know, tell me something about you that's not related to physical therapy. Because one, it allows me to know the person, but two, it often does tie back to what brought them in. And she burst out in tears. And I didn't know what to do. So I just sat there and I listened and she told me about how she had two cats and nobody else in her life who cared about her and her one cat just passed away and...

She went on and on and on. got tissues. sat with her and an hour later, the time was up, the clinic was closing and she had to leave. And long story short, she ended up doing much, much better. And really what she needed was someone to listen to her and help her process the stress and move a little bit. And, you know, she did great, but I got in trouble because I didn't bill any codes for that evaluation. didn't do any tests. I didn't take a history.

I didn't make the clinic any money and that kind of thing killed me. And so I decided to start exploring other options. I was lucky enough to have people in my life who were entrepreneurs who started their own thing. And the more and more I talked with them, the more and more I heard that entrepreneurship is the hardest thing I've ever done and it's also one of the best. And so I decided to build up my book of business outside of work.

And one day I said, it's time and I put in my notice and I left. To answer your original question, Project Endure is primarily a coaching business. So we do fitness coaching, mindset coaching, and business coaching. And those services are both online and in person for those who are located in or near Philadelphia. But the mission of Project Endure is to help other people find strength within their struggle. I'm a firm believer that we're all going through something.

We're all fighting battles that maybe the rest of the world doesn't know about. And I also believe that we can find strength through those struggles, much like at the gym, you don't get stronger unless you struggle a bit. In life, I believe we don't get stronger unless we struggle a bit. And so we've built a community, a podcast and a coaching business to help empower people in that direction.

McKenzie Smith (09:32)
Okay, very cool. And at this point, do you have a team that's helping you or are you the one like guiding all of your clients through this process?

Joe Rinaldi (09:42)
Yeah, so we have two coaches in addition to myself. I still do the large majority of the coaching work. Part of that is because I enjoy it. Part of that is because I'm not great at giving up control. So it's something I'm working on. But yeah, so there are three of us and I am primarily doing most

McKenzie Smith (10:02)
Okay, okay, cool. I was just curious if it's like if you know they sign up are they for sure getting you or are they you know, do you have a team of people helping you with that? So I think it's really cool. I've, you know, followed you on social media for a short amount of time looked at some of your stuff and it's kind of crazy to me some of the things that I've seen you do and one of the things that I'm thinking about in particular is you I don't even know that I'm gonna know exactly what you did but you

Climbed stairs for 24 hours straight. Talk to us about that. Because you're a little bit of a different outdoorsy guy than we have normally on here. You do a lot of running, you do a lot of challenging yourself in the outdoor space. And this stuck out to me. So a lot of people on this podcast climb mountains, you climb stairs. Talk to us about that.

Joe Rinaldi (10:37)
Okay, so

Yeah, it's the concrete jungle here in Philadelphia. So earlier in 2024, I found out about this event that gets put on every year. It's a fundraiser that raises money to help cancer patients here in the city who are struggling with housing and food and things like that. And so that piqued my interest and I didn't really consider it much more after that. But as the year unfolded, more and more people in my circle started mentioning this event.

Some of them had done it in the past and others were thinking of doing it that year. And so I decided to pull the trigger and sign up. And it's a 24 hour stair climb up and down the art museum steps here in Philadelphia. And if anybody's not from Philadelphia, but you've seen Rocky, those are the steps that he runs up in the movie and throws his hands in the air. So 24 hours, as much or as little as you're able to do.

And I ended up doing 74.4 miles in those 24 hours with a whole lot of elevation. And to me, it's kind of this beautiful thing where, you know, the day is busy and there are people that visit you and maybe do a flight or two of the stairs with you. And then when the night rolls around, it's dark and it gets a bit colder and there aren't as many people around and having a headlamp on and just going up and down those stairs.

You know, one at a time over and over and over again was so meditative. And I remember looking up at the night sky and just seeing the stars and just feeling so small in just the vastness of this world on these steps, just with my legs hurting and my lungs burning. And it was beautiful. And so, yeah, I did that last year. I will probably do it again this year. And I like the hurt.

McKenzie Smith (12:48)
Mm-hmm. That sounds miserable to me. Absolutely miserable. Is, you know, I know you do do a lot of fitness things is kind of this endurance, endurance sport, you know, do you run marathons? what was this like totally out of left field?

Joe Rinaldi (12:53)
Yeah.

So anybody who knows me well is not surprised that I would do something like that. I am the type of person who will wake up on their 30th birthday and run 30 miles and not tell anyone about it until after. And so that was this past year. But I fell in love with running a few years ago and I actually have been running every single day for the past 1,051 days. I run at least a mile.

And this year I upped that to two miles. But part of that is just this practice of being alone with myself, by myself. It's actually a time, and maybe we'll get into this later, but it's a time that I talk to God. And it's really become something special to me. So, you know, I've run a mile in the Philadelphia airport when I didn't think I would be, when my flight got delayed and I didn't think I would be home by midnight.

I've run a mile the day after that 74 miles on the stairs, but I really love the practice of just putting one foot in front of the other for me.

McKenzie Smith (14:15)
Yeah, that is the epitome of no excuses. You're in an airport, you're just ran 74 miles with like how much elevation? I know you know how much elevation was it. That stair run.

Joe Rinaldi (14:20)
Yeah.

I I so it was a little under 20,000 a

little under 20,000 feet yeah, so but I

McKenzie Smith (14:35)
Yeah, I don't think my

legs would have moved the next day.

Joe Rinaldi (14:39)
I will say this. One of the things that I love about running is that you can surprise yourself and you could really do a lot more than you think you can do. And that's something I've come to appreciate more and more about not just my body, but about other people, the people that I work with and just people in general is we are capable of so much more sometimes than we give ourselves credit for. And I think our mind has a lot to do with that.

McKenzie Smith (15:06)
Yeah, totally agree. Totally agree. We are far more capable than we tell ourselves and that we believe ourselves to be, but you have to do the hard things to figure that out and not everybody's willing to get to that part. So you touched on it a little bit, but I'd love for you to expand on just how, you know, running or fitness in general plays a role specifically in your relationship with Christ.

Joe Rinaldi (15:19)
Yep. Yeah.

Yeah. So, you know, think to go back to my childhood, even I grew up going to church. I think like most kids, church is something you do. You go to it and then you leave and maybe don't think about it again until you grumble when your parents bring you the next week. And so that was my relationship there. But as I got older and my faith became more of my own, you know, I found myself thinking more and more about God. And one of the places that I did that thinking and

and had those conversations with him in my head was while I was lifting weights or while I was running and specifically while I was hurting. I feel like the low seasons of life on a big scale are really amazing opportunities to connect deeper in our faith. But on a smaller scale, I think they also provide those opportunities. One example of that this past year, again, another kind of crazy thing,

I wore a weighted vest and I did a mile of walking lunges. And I remember being on the track outdoors. It was lightly raining. I was hurting and I was just listening to worship music in my headphones. And it was one of the moments in my life where I felt most connected to God. And it was this manufactured moment of pain and hurt and fatigue. And that's what allowed me to connect in that moment.

And so I feel like fitness has really just been a vehicle for me to experience some of those mini valleys. if that makes any sense to have those conversations with God.

McKenzie Smith (17:10)
Yeah, absolutely. It's, you know, I immediately think of the verse that talks about, you know, it's not the healthy that need a doctor, it's the sick and you're not making yourself sick necessarily, but you are putting yourself in a state of, you know, it's hard to rely on yourself in those moments because you do feel, you know, the struggle and you do feel, you know, the pain of that moment. And so

Yeah, I totally can understand what you're saying. it's you're you're constantly putting yourself yourself in situations where you have to rely outside of yourself and you push yourself outside of the places that you're comfortable to then be able to lean on God. And so I think that's that's really cool. And I think that that's

you know, not a way that a lot of people think about connecting with God is like put yourself in a miserable situation on purpose, you know, like, I think we live in a in a generation of comfort. And so this is going to sound super countercultural to to most people looking like I'm going to do what. But I think I think that's so good.

Joe Rinaldi (18:06)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think too, just to add on, I like the idea of being humbled, know, like almost that thorn in your side, if you will. And I think life hands those to us, God gives those to us, but we can also create them for ourselves. And you and I were talking a bit about rock climbing before we hit record and Alex Honnold is someone who speaks to this in a really interesting way.

I would imagine that if people listening are like the outdoors, they might know who Alex Honnold is, but he talks about fear in this unique way where he says, most people have these anxieties and these fears about things in their life that aren't a big deal at all. And because he puts himself in physical danger, you know, on the side of a mountain with no ropes, thousands of feet up, he understands.

that those small things are not a big deal. And so in comparison, he's able to shake them off and move more fluidly and smoothly through life. I think by putting ourselves in maybe not dangerous situations, but hard, uncomfortable situations, we too can humble ourselves and recognize that most of the day-to-day problems that we feel like we have aren't that big of a deal.

McKenzie Smith (19:39)
Yeah, absolutely. I like that analogy. And I know people that see Alex Hall, they're like, he's crazy. Who would do that? Like something, I know people have even like, I've seen the memes of like, his frontal cortex isn't fully, you know, or doesn't light up the way that it should. And it's like, he's just conditioned himself to that. You know, I don't know that that's, I mean, I don't know. I can't speak to his health personally, but you know, I think over time you can definitely condition yourself to some of those things.

Joe Rinaldi (19:53)
Thank

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (20:14)
Blank space. Before I said that sentence I knew where I was going.

Joe Rinaldi (20:16)
It's all good, happens.

McKenzie Smith (20:28)
Let me ask you real quick, was that your story, the story that you wanted to share about a way God has revealed himself to you? Or do you have a different one? Okay, let me ask at them. So Joe, can you share a story with us about a way in which maybe God has revealed himself to you or spoken to you through the outdoors?

Joe Rinaldi (20:38)
I have a different one. Yeah

Sure. So back in, I would say this is 2016. It was the summer before I moved to Philadelphia to go to graduate school. And I had just been in this valley, in this low season of life. And I would go to church on Saturday night by myself. I would stand in the back and I don't even know if I heard any of the words that were being preached. I was just at...

there to talk to God and to feel his presence. And I was really feeling anxious about the move to school and this next chapter. And I couldn't get out of this rut. It almost felt like God was a bit distant in that season. And so I remember leaving church, getting in my car and deciding to take the long way home. So instead of a quick two minute drive home, I decided to take the long way. It's a bit more scenic, kind of through the woods. And as I was driving,

you know, windshield wipers are on, it had been raining the whole day. It's the skies are gray. And I just asked God to show me that he was there. And that was it. That's all I had asked. And I put my music on shuffle and the song sun's going to rise by citizens. Cope came on. And for anyone who doesn't know the lyrics of that song, you know, it very simple. The sun's going to rise in a mile in a mile. You'll be feeling fine.

And you know, it repeats some other words and then it goes back to that as I'm driving the whole day, gray, gloomy, you know, I have tears in my eyes because I just feel so distant from God. The clouds open up an array of sunshine just like shines right on my car as this song is playing on shuffle. And I just felt like that was God speaking to me. And I still get the chills when I think about it. The craziest part about that story happened a few weeks ago because.

McKenzie Smith (22:41)
you.

Joe Rinaldi (22:46)
From then, 2016 until now, I've grown quite a bit in my faith. And through some of the coaching that I do, I come across Christian clients, other believers, people who are seeking. And I have this one client who's really been in a low season of his life. He lives in the same hometown I grew up in. And I was telling him that exact story. It just felt right. don't share it often, but it just felt right because of what he was going through. And at the end of the story,

I thought I had lost him because he was so quiet. And I said, are you there? And he said, I'm so sorry. And he was choked up and he had tears. could hear it. He was emotional. And he said, because I told him what road I was driving on. He said, I was just driving on that same road that you were talking about. And the sun just came out at that exact point in the story. And I just thought, that's crazy. Like that's God.

And so, yeah, that was a moment that's very clear in my mind where God revealed himself to me.

McKenzie Smith (23:45)
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing that. it's those, you know, sometimes it's really big moments and sometimes it's just a ray of sunshine at just the right moment. And I think it's just, you know, the the realization of asking God like, hey, like, I know you're here, but can you just can you just show me something like I really need to see your face, you know, and just what a

What a nice little, I'll call it like a God wink in that moment of just like, I'm here. Like I'm always here, but here I am. So thank you so much for sharing that. So I know you live in Philadelphia and you said concrete jungle, you know, all the things. So, you know, one thing I always like to ask people is how they connect with God through creation, even if they live in a super urban environment.

Joe Rinaldi (24:40)
I, even though we live in an urban environment, Philadelphia is this really special place because there are pockets of nature. In one of my favorite places where my wife and I like to go together is called Wissahickin. And Wissahickin is this preserved area. I don't know how many acres it is, but it's massive. And it cuts through the part of the city that we're in. And

There are trails, there's water, rocks, trees, everything you could think of being in the outdoors. And we love to go there. It's where I proposed to her. It's not far from our house. We take the dog there. And so when we go there, I feel at peace. I feel like it's a place where I am able to connect with God, specifically when we're by the water. think there's just something about the sound and the visual of running water that's really calming to me.

But the thing that always gets me anytime I'm there or in nature and being present and thinking about this is that there are no straight lines in nature. I don't know if you've ever thought about that, but there just are no straight lines in nature. You know, a of grass has a curve to it, you know, tree bark, tree branches, leaves, rivers, everything has this curve to it, right? Like it's, it winds and it twists and it turns and nothing is a straight line. And.

It's just this beautiful reminder to me that our lives are not designed to be that way either. You know, there are supposed to be twists and turns, curves, bends, ebbs and flows, and it's okay, you know, and nature is really reassuring in that way to me and seeing God's creation not necessarily be linear. Yeah, it makes me feel closer to Him.

McKenzie Smith (26:28)
I literally just like put my head on a swivel and was looking out my window because I was like, I was like, that is actually nuts to think about.

Joe Rinaldi (26:32)
Yeah, I've...

If

anyone listening can think of something that is out in nature, not touched by man and is perfectly straight, you know, all the time, I would love to hear it because I've thought a lot about this and I can't think of any.

McKenzie Smith (26:50)
Yeah, I feel like I've shared about it a lot on this on this podcast recently, but I'm going to bring it up again in a different way. There's a book it's called Like a River by Granger Smith. He's, you know, ex country singer turned pastor and it's about the story of him losing his son and his name was River. But a lot of the book is he talks about how life is like a river and he uses that analogy. And that was what immediately came to mind when I thought about

what you were sharing, know, the twists and the turns and the rerouting and like, you know, rivers, rivers do reroute themselves over time if things get in the way, you know, and anyways, I just, I think it's, it's really, really good what you shared about, you know, nothing in nature and nothing's just designed to be this straightforward line and

never thought about that before. And so I'm like, I literally just put my head on the table was looking outside and I was like, you know what, you're right. Like, even like the trunk of trees are like, you know, a little windy if they're, if they're appear to be straight from far away. So I appreciate you sharing that. Before we jump into the to the bulk of this of this podcast, would love to just ask you, you know, kind of where

Joe Rinaldi (27:51)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Of

McKenzie Smith (28:07)
your wife fits in all of this. I know that you do all these super crazy things. I am just always interested in people that are like you, like where their spouse is on this. Is she super into fitness? Is she just like along for the ride, keeps up with general fitness or is she as crazy as you are and doing some of these things with you?

Joe Rinaldi (28:27)
No, no, she is not as crazy as I am. And before I give you a bit of description about her, I'll just say that another moment in my life where God revealed himself, not specifically through nature, was just through her. You know, it was one of those things where I was in another valley when I met her and she was the person that kind of nudged me and redirected me back toward faith. And she inspires me every single day with how faithful she is.

And so yeah, she is into fitness. she loves to play soccer. she will run from time to time. She gave me the privilege of coaching her to her first marathon this past year. And, and she'll lift every now and then, however, I'm uplifting and working out and running at three 30 or four in the morning. And she is not, she would never. and so she's very supportive though. She'll be there at the things that I do and.

McKenzie Smith (29:21)
You

Joe Rinaldi (29:26)
She gives me lot of grace and room and understanding to kind of pursue my fitness, which I really, really appreciate. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (29:35)
Yeah, yeah, I

just always think it's interesting whenever, you know, you either find someone that is like, totally the same person and they're trucking along in the same way or you know, they're they're going next to you finding their own groove and they're they're interested but you know, maybe not as crazy and so I just think it's always interesting to know like how how your spouse fits in in this piece.

all right, Joe, so kind of switching gears into the title of this podcast, my valley, his victory would love for you to share a valley or a season of wilderness that you experienced and just what God maybe taught you or prepared you for in that season.

Joe Rinaldi (30:11)
So I will talk about how I met my wife, but I'll go back to the beginning. And the beginning of that story is actually the end of the previous story I told about the car. So I was in the car, the sun broke through the clouds. I felt God's presence. That was in a season of life where I was debating going to school or not. I had gone through a couple of life events and had some changes happen.

personally, that made me question whether or not I should pursue graduate school. So of course, if we're talking on this podcast, you know that I did go to graduate school and that first year there was hands down the hardest, darkest season of my life. It was just this transition where I felt very alone, even though I had roommates and family checked in on me and I had people who cared. I would wake up.

every morning and I would, you know, put on a brave face and I would go to class and I'd interact and laugh and smile and have fun with people. But on the inside, I was just hurting and I felt almost numb to a lot of things in life, including God, you know, and I would ask him in that season, like, just help me feel better, help me feel closer to you, help pull me out of this. And no matter what I did, what I prayed for,

nothing changed and for an entire year I just felt so low. And it almost felt like God had just ignored me or was not there with me anymore. And so there was this girl in my class who I really wanted to spend more time with and I pursued her and we spent more and more time together. And she invited me to church one day and I agreed because of course I wanted to spend more time with her.

even though I really didn't have a desire to be in church at that time. I went and I remember sitting in the front row with her and the song Good Good Father was played by the worship band. And I remember looking around, just seeing people, eyes closed, hands in the air, just like totally just, just like there. Like I could see the piece that they had.

And at that moment, it almost felt like God put his hand on my shoulder and said, I got you, you know, you, stopped chasing me and you started chasing this girl, but I never left you. And I was here the whole time. And ever since that day, we've, we've gone to church. we've gone to that church. got married at that church during COVID. it's just been such a huge part of my life. But the thing that I learned through that season is that even when God doesn't answer your prayers in the way that you want.

McKenzie Smith (32:42)
Thank

Joe Rinaldi (32:59)
Sometimes he is teaching you a lesson that you can't understand until much later. And even if it feels like he's not there, he still is. And there's this story that I don't know where I heard it. I don't know if this is the only version or the popular version, but it's about this man who, you know, lives his full life. He goes to heaven and he's standing at the gates of heaven and God asks, do you have any questions for me?

And he says, yeah, I, you know, I felt like my whole life I was walking with you, you know, you, your, your footsteps were right beside mine. but there was this one season where it was only my footsteps, you know, it was only my footsteps and you weren't there. Where were you? And the man was kind of angry and God paused and looked at him and smiled and said, those are my footsteps. I was carrying you.

And I feel like that was that season of life for me where I felt like God wasn't there, but it was actually him who carried me through it. And I could only see that after the fact.

McKenzie Smith (34:05)
Yeah, I'm familiar with that story. I think there's a, there's a, I think it's a poem originally and it's called Footprints in the Sand.

Joe Rinaldi (34:18)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (34:19)
I is, I don't know if it's the origin, but I do, am familiar with that story. But no, I think that that's really helpful because I think a lot of people go through seasons where it's kind of like, you know, God, where are you? I feel like I'm...

Doing I mean sometimes I'll say sometimes sometimes I'm doing all the right things. I'm reading my Bible I'm going to church. I'm you know, actively pursuing you and where are you and then on the other hand, you know, sometimes it's Yeah, I haven't really felt your presence. So I haven't really been doing the things that I know would help me Also, you know kind of get get back in to that closer relationship with God and so

Joe Rinaldi (35:04)
Hmm.

McKenzie Smith (35:07)
can be either or sometimes, and it exists well in both of those. I think it's interesting what you said though that you kind of had that prompt from God of like, you've been chasing this girl instead of chasing me. And so, I would love to ask you just for someone who's maybe in that process of...

of pursuing their spouse or potential spouse or know dating like how to keep the main thing the main thing and still do you know pursue the girl.

Joe Rinaldi (35:46)
That's a really great question. And I don't know if I have a great answer because when I was in that season, I wasn't keeping the main thing the main thing. I pursued the girl and I'm very grateful that God was using that pursuit to bring me closer to Him. I think the easy answer that comes to mind though is to spend time in areas where there are other believers.

McKenzie Smith (36:14)
Thank

Joe Rinaldi (36:16)
at church in small group, in circles where you might find other, you know, people of the opposite gender who love God, right? Like I think that would be the easiest way, right? If I wanted to find a spouse all over again, let's say I could go back in time and I cared about finding someone who is in really good shape, I would spend time at the gym.

You know, if I wanted to find someone who was really well read, I would go to the library. If I wanted to find a spouse who shared that love of God and that pursuit, I think I would spend time at church. And you get the benefit of finding people who share that love and share that faith. And you're also keeping the main thing, the main thing by being in that space, I think.

McKenzie Smith (37:02)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that that's really important. It's like wherever you're looking, you're going to find the people that are interested in that thing. it's just the grace of God, though, you know, that she was like, hey, let's go to church together. And, you know, she was she was the one, you know, kind of maybe encouraging that piece of your guys's relationship. And so I think that's really, really cool.

Joe Rinaldi (37:21)
Yeah.

And the other thing I'll add, and I'm not, I haven't put this together until this moment, but you know, I did ask, I did pray for God to bring me out of that season and to bring me closer to him. And, you know, in a very clear way, not that I'm talking about it, he did. but it was just through, through her, it was through my wife. and I think I was looking for kind of that same sign that I had in the car, you know, like that one moment that almost felt like.

too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence and that wink from God, but that just came later on and in the form of our relationship.

McKenzie Smith (38:10)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's, were you, let me ask you this, you you said that this prayer got answered in a way that, you know, maybe you weren't intending for, was, you know, dating and looking for a spouse, like was that top of your priorities at that time? You know, like, was that something you were actively seeking or was it kind of just like, yeah, I'm casually dating people, you know, I don't know.

Joe Rinaldi (38:39)
Yeah, I've had, the answer is no, I was not looking. I, it almost makes it more amazing because, so I went through this hard season. I spent time either in my bedroom by myself, feeling sorry for myself or in class or at the gym. all pretty much with my head down, just focused on getting through that day. And I remember talking to my dad.

McKenzie Smith (38:39)
Thank you.

Thank

Joe Rinaldi (39:08)
because I would call my parents almost daily, sometimes just sobbing while I walked the streets of Philadelphia because I felt so bad. And he said, you know, I think you need a girlfriend. And I said that I don't feel like I, I don't have the bandwidth to even think about something like that. And he said, well, are you ever going to find someone if all you do is go to class and go to the gym and stay in your room? And I said, probably not. And I said, but there is this one girl in my class who I really

I like, and I would love to spend time with." he said, you should pursue her. And so I did. But to answer your question, no, I wasn't looking. I was almost doing the opposite of looking, which makes it even more amazing that it happened.

McKenzie Smith (39:49)
Yeah, yeah, God was working in that season for sure. He knew what you needed even though you didn't know what you needed. I don't know if this is... Actually, I'm not even gonna get in there. I'm not gonna go there. No, I'm not gonna go there. Well, I was just talking. I'll go ahead and say it then I'll decide if I wanna cut it out or not.

Joe Rinaldi (39:54)
yeah.

Yes.

You can go there if you want. Okay, now you got me curious though. You'll have to tell me after.

McKenzie Smith (40:17)
It's not related, but it's kind of related. was just talking to my mom the other day about someone in our family and they're going through a really hard time. And I said, you know, they need to get a dog or a cat, you know, and it's like in those times where you don't feel like you can take care of yourself, like having something else to take care of or to like live for.

sometimes beneficial and so it's not the same but it's kind of the same in the way of like you know whenever you're feeling low it it seems like the last thing you want to do is take care of something but it can actually give you that motivation to get out of the funk or to you know live differently or you know just gives you an excuse to have to get out of bed on the days that are hard because you know you have a dog that needs to go to the bathroom and needs to be fed and

Anyways, not sure that that's totally related, but it comes to mind because I just had this conversation with my mom.

Joe Rinaldi (41:10)
Well,

I'll throw one more tangent in there and then we can, you know, we'll go from there. But I learned this past week about airplanes. I learned a little bit more about airplanes. Not that I know a lot, but from my understanding, when an airplane has engine failure and the plane is starting to kind of nose dive, the instinct of anybody in that situation would be to pull up.

McKenzie Smith (41:17)
Yeah

Joe Rinaldi (41:39)
to try to pull the nose of the plane up so that the nosedive stops. However, what you're supposed to do in a situation like that is lean further into the nosedive and pick up speed so that you have enough speed so when you pull up later that the wings can actually catch some air and you can coast. And I think when we're in the hard seasons,

it's really easy to want to just pull up and say like, I'm going to stop trying. I'm not going to lean into this. Like, I just want it to stop. But sometimes we do have to take on the extra responsibility. We do have to do the hard thing. We do have to go a little bit further before we can catch a little bit of wind under ourselves. yeah.

McKenzie Smith (42:21)
Yeah, that's a good, good analogy. I

like that. I know also a little bit about planes and I did not know that. And so that's cool. That's interesting. Fun fact. Fun fact I just learned and it's a good analogy for life. I love when those things go hand in hand. So kind of

Joe Rinaldi (42:32)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (42:44)
looking back on this season of your life and you know going through going through that hard time not really you know wanting to do much outside of what you were already doing but you know it sounds like you kind of knew that you needed to be doing something different what what piece of advice or word of encouragement would you give to someone who's who's maybe in that season

Joe Rinaldi (43:06)
Yeah. I have a quote that comes to mind. It's one of my favorites and it's I'm the big quote guy. Yeah. So the fact that this is the first quote that I'm sharing is just, that's a miracle because usually I'd be like 10 in by this point. It's by James Watkins who said a river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. And I think

McKenzie Smith (43:11)
I heard you were a quote guy. I heard you were a quote guy.

Thanks.

Joe Rinaldi (43:34)
in faith, in fitness, in other areas of life, it's really easy to say, I'm trying, I'm asking, I'm praying, and nothing is happening, and to give up on that pursuit. But I think persistence is really, really valuable. And by sticking with it, by enduring, by persisting, that allows us to have that door opened. It allows us for God to speak to us in that way that we've been waiting for. It allows for things to happen.

And so I know it's probably the last thing that some people want to do when things are hard or dark or it feels like nothing's working, but you just have to keep showing up. And the great part is you only have to do it one day at a time. Uh, one of my favorite thoughts is what's the best way to eat an elephant. And the answer is one bite at a time. And so you just have to keep taking bites, keep taking steps, keep showing up. And I promise it does get better.

even if it hasn't happened yet.

McKenzie Smith (44:33)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Persistence is key. And I love the name of your business, Project Endure. I think that that's just such a good, I mean, life word for people, you know? And...

It's actually funny yesterday as I was preparing and thinking for this podcast, I read through Matthew 24. That was my Bible reading for the day and the word endure showed up and it said, you know, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. And I was just like, what, what a little God wink of, of how important it is to endure. And so I appreciate you. Appreciate you sharing that and

Joe Rinaldi (45:09)
Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (45:17)
Just appreciate you sharing this story and just the season of life that you're in Totally unrelated but before we wrap up you have something that you share on social media all the time And I want to ask you what it means to you It's the this is my first rodeo, but it's my fifth corn dog Explain explain to us what that means

Joe Rinaldi (45:43)
So this is so perfect. I, so it's in my office on the other side of my screen, but I never ever buy things from social media. Like you can throw a million Instagram ads in front of me and I would never purchase any of them. But for whatever reason, this came across my feed and I just knew I needed to have it because to me it describes almost to a T.

what it has been like to dive into entrepreneurship and to build the business. I almost never feel like I know what I'm doing. You know, from the very start, all the way through now in year four, I wake up and I think this is wild because I am, I'm dictating how I use my time. I am making the rules. I am putting in effort the way that I want to put in effort. And I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know anything.

McKenzie Smith (46:18)
Yeah.

Joe Rinaldi (46:38)
So it's my first rodeo, you know, and I think on a bigger scale, it's all of our first rodeos. We're all living this life for the first time, just doing our best to figure it out. but I'm on my fifth corn dog to me. That means, but I'm going all in, right? I'm taking the risks. I'm doing the work. am. My foot is on the pedal and I am in this and I'm going to have some fun. I'm going to eat some corn dogs. I'm going to make some mistakes. it's my first rodeo, but I'm on my fifth corn.

McKenzie Smith (47:07)
Yeah, yeah, I love that. That's such a good analogy. I'm going all in, baby.

Joe Rinaldi (47:13)
Yeah. And I think just on that note, one of the things that I considered when starting this business was, well, what's the worst that can happen? And to be honest, the backdrop of Jesus dying for our sins is the biggest safety blanket that I could ever ask for. No matter what would ever happen with a business that I created, no matter how bad it could go.

Is it really that bad if I have Jesus? No.

McKenzie Smith (47:43)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's really good. Well, Joe, I just want to thank you so much for being here and for sharing. know, with Project Endure at front of mind, can you share with the listeners just like where they can find you or they can find more about Project Endure and maybe like what's going on there that they should follow along for? And the podcast.

Joe Rinaldi (48:07)
Sure. it, yes. Okay, perfect. So

if you would like to connect with me, and by the way, I would love to talk with anyone who's interested in anything that I said, you could find me on Instagram at Joe A. Rinaldi. And through there, you can find the Project Endure page on Instagram, which is at project.ender. And from there, you can navigate to the website,

the podcast, is called the Project Enduro podcast, and everything else that we do. I would say that if you're in the Philadelphia region or looking to come to the Philadelphia region this spring, we hold our big annual event on April 26th. It's a full day of fun, fitness, food, and just really great people. And outside of that, we'll keep putting out positive, encouraging content. And Kenzie, I just really appreciate.

you giving me the chance to share all of that in my story. And just for this awesome conversation and all of the light that you're spreading into this world, it really is admirable and amazing.

McKenzie Smith (49:15)
Yeah, thank you so much. I also just appreciate so much what you're doing and you know, in a way we have a similar vision. You I loved what you put in your bio about, you know, help others find strength in their struggle and, you know, just are encouraging people to push forward through that. And I just really appreciate what you're doing and challenging people mentally and physically so that they can endure the hard things and

yeah just thank you for all that you're doing and y'all go follow along and figure out all the things that is going on over at the project under page and the podcast and all the things. So once again thank you so much, Joe.

Joe Rinaldi (49:56)
Thank you, Kenzie